NEW ORLEANS — About three inches in diameter, the blue metal pin-back button is still safely kept in the Jacksonville home of Marc Edwards, the treasured item only unearthed for special occasions.
Scrawled around the edges of its face are four words, all in capital letters: NOTRE DAME NATIONAL CHAMPIONS. At its center is a green shamrock emblazoned with the school’s trademark logo — ND — and a year: 1993.
Notre Dame did not win the national title in 1993. But the Irish came close enough that then-coach Lou Holtz distributed the metallic buttons to players following a win in the Cotton Bowl that, they believed, would result in, at the very least, a split national championship with Florida State.